Sub's Alternative Energy Thread

[SubGod22]

Dutch Milestone: Quarter-Million Pounds of Plastic Cleared From Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Last year, wiz kid Boyan Slat announced that “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch can now be cleaned,” after a prototype cleaning system proved successful.

Since that deployment in August 2021, System 02 (or “Jenny”) has now collected 220,000 pounds (101,353 kg) of plastic over 45 extractions, sweeping an area of ocean of over 3,000km2 comparable to the size of Luxembourg or Rhode Island.

“Added to the 7,173 kg of plastic captured by our previous prototype systems, The Ocean Cleanup has now collected 108,526 kg of plastic from the “GPGP”—more than the combined weight of two and a half Boeing 737-800s, or the dry weight of a space shuttle,” Slat wrote on his website.
.....
“System 03, which is expected to capture plastic at a rate potentially 10 times higher than System 002 through a combination of increased size, improved efficiency, and increased uptime, will be starting soon,” Slat said.

The idea with System 03 will be to go big—and to remove the need for support vessels, thusly reducing the cost of each ton of plastic removed as the support vessels are the highest input cost.

The capture area is nearly two miles in total, and despite the fact that it’s essentially a net, the capture of fish or other marine life remains less than a quarter of a percentage point of the total haul.

[wichshock65]

Meanwhile, in the front yard of shock ..

https://twitter.com/bunsenbernerbmd/status/1554266494468366337?t=RTfOjy_3mvahJwConytylg&s=19

[shock]

Meanwhile, in the front yard of shock ..

https://twitter.com/bunsenbernerbmd/...wConytylg&s=19

Pretty accurate. I have a cow and calf and a youn bull that hang out in my yard at night. Drives my dog bonkers.

[1972Shocker]

We do need to continue developing solar and wind and improve those technologies as well as find new sources of energy. However, we also will need fossil fuels and nuclear.

Here is a short (5 minute) presentation that is presented in a straight-forward. relatively simple manner.

[SubGod22]

Not a bad idea. The space is already used so you're not taking up more valuable land for solar collection.

Solar Company Gets Bright Idea to Cover Storage Facilities in Solar Panels - Brings Power to 1,400 Homes

New Jersey’s largest community solar owner and operator had the bright idea to cover storage space with solar panels.

The project was seen through to its conclusion, and now an Extra Space Storage site in Neptune, NJ, boats a 6.5-megawatt (MW) community solar array totaling 800,000 square feet that will power over 1,400 nearby homes.

Solar Landscape, the solar operator, finished the project on August 1st, and it’s one of 10 sites owned by the company and the first completed one of 46 “community solar projects” approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) in year 2 of the Community Solar Energy Pilot Program.

[Shockm]

Electric cars just keep getting more expensive. Ford raises prices on their Electric F150 trucks by $8,500. Their prices now range from 45,000 - 90,000 + dollars. Ford isn’t alone in raising prices, particularly for electric vehicles. General Motors recently increased the price of the GMC Hummer EV by $6,250.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/09/busin...ice/index.html

[wufan]

Electric cars just keep getting more expensive. Ford raises prices on their Electric F150 trucks by $8,500. Their prices now range from 45,000 - 90,000 + dollars. Ford isn’t alone in raising prices, particularly for electric vehicles. General Motors recently increased the price of the GMC Hummer EV by $6,250.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/09/busin...ice/index.html

And the Biden admin gave them a big payout. Sounds like they’re price gauging!

[CBB_Fan]

Electric cars just keep getting more expensive. Ford raises prices on their Electric F150 trucks by $8,500. Their prices now range from 45,000 - 90,000 + dollars. Ford isn’t alone in raising prices, particularly for electric vehicles. General Motors recently increased the price of the GMC Hummer EV by $6,250.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/09/busin...ice/index.html

All cars are getting more expensive. The average price of a new car is over $47,000, up from around $42,000 in 2021. Let alone what is happening in the used car market, where used cars are going for $10,000 more than their projected normal prices.

[pinstripers]

Biden just gave subsidies of $7,000 to every electric auto purchaser

[Shockm]

Biden just gave subsidies of $7,000 to every electric auto purchaser

That’s why the prices went up.

[SubGod22]

Another potential cost saving development within solar.

Innovation in Organic Solar Cells Promise Low-Cost, Bendable, and Efficient Panels

Korean researchers have created electrodes designed for use in all-organic solar cells using inexpensive zinc oxide, promising a dramatic upgrade in photovoltaic energy.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are foreseen to be light weight, flexible, and of a high conversion efficiency. But, most OSC electrodes use indium tin oxide, which is too costly and fragile to enable the manufacture of flexible, large-area solar panels with OSCs.

If the indium tin oxide could be replaced, the cells could be not only be made more cheaply, but in many national cases, domestically. Even in an advanced country like South Korea, the production of indium tin oxide was so impracticable, that all such material was imported from abroad.

Organic solar cells have desirable features and massive commercial potential. Their light weight, flexibility, malleability, and, most importantly the high power-conversion-efficiency of any kind of light, whether natural or unnatural, direct or indirect, make them ideal for a wide range of applications.

Now, Dr. Hongkyu Kang and Prof. Kwanghee Lee from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology recently put forth a new method to create OSCs using inexpensive zinc oxide, the active ingredient in non-chemical sunscreen, that overcame the issues of cost and scalability without comprising the high power-conversion-efficiency inherent in organic solar cells.

[wufan]

I think innovation and adaptation are the correct solutions for conservation.

[WuDrWu]

All cars are getting more expensive. The average price of a new car is over $47,000, up from around $42,000 in 2021. Let alone what is happening in the used car market, where used cars are going for $10,000 more than their projected normal prices.

That market is nuts right now. I bought a USED car 4 years ago and I can sell it for a profit today.

Unfortunately, I love the car so in my garage it will continue to reside.

[pinstripers]

https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1561424747623096320

[SubGod22]

Another way to help while providing value.

A Startup Is Using Recycled Plastic to 3D Print Tiny $25,000 Prefabricated Homes in LA

There’re 3D-printed homes, and there’re prefabricated homes. Take the best of both technologies, throw in a groundbreaking use for discarded plastic, and you have a genius idea.

Born in Culver City, the startup Azure is mostly using recycled plastic water and drink bottles to create homes that are 90% complete by the time they leave the factory.

By blending the manufacturing speed of 3D-printing with the assembly speed and modular possibilities given by prefabrication, Azure’s houses are a game changer for sustainability in the housing industry.

The startup says it can build homes 70% faster and 30% cheaper than “traditional home construction methods” by 3D printing the floor, roof, and walls of its models inside its factory.

Practically all that’s left to be done at the build site is to connect the prefab panels to each other, and to the foundation, and connect the utilities.

Definitely not for everyone, but with how expensive housing (land) is in some areas, there are people who would gladly live in a smaller and cheaper home. Especially people who if they have help getting off the streets and can transition back into working and society with a little bit of stability. Mental illness is a major problem within the homeless community, but there are still a lot of people who have simply fallen on hard times and ran out of places to go and people to help them get on their feet.